Leave it to coach Bill Belichick. It wasn't bad enough that he was all sour after the Patriots beat the Colts, 31-24. But he also ruined a nice family reunion that Nick McDonald had scheduled.

See, McDonald arranged a month ago to have friends and family come watch the Colts game, getting them tickets and everything. His plan was to, ya know, sit with them. As a practice squad player, that's not a crazy thought.

Except... he started. Yup, played every snap. That's how Belichick ruined it. Oh, and I bet everyone was pretty psyched about the whole thing. How cool is that?

Afterward, McDonald drew praise from QB Tom Brady and from teammate like Brian Waters, who said, "Nick did really well. He really did. Stepped up big-time this week." No wonder he was cautiously optimistic in the locker room.

"It’s always been a dream of mine to be out there with starters," McDonald said, "and it felt real good."

McDonald learned one thing. When they tell you to be ready... You better actually be ready.

"There’s always that chance," McDonald said. "You gotta be prepared every single day. In practice, you gotta be prepared like you’re going to play every week. Me and Tom, we take snaps every single week as it is. We young guys get in there, we get to snap to him every single day."

On the subject of his own play, McDonald said, "Obviously, I still have some things to clean up, first game out there, trying to keep improving."